My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land.
I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD.
They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
Jeremiah 24:6-7
Have you ever picked up a bowl of fruit ready to savor its sweet, succulent taste, only to realize half the fruit is rotten?
Fifty percent of the contents end up in the compost pail, while you tentatively digest the rest.
It could be a bowl of ripe red strawberries, or perhaps cherries, maybe even purple plums, that you long to satisfy your palate.
In the end you push aside the bowl thinking you have now separated the good from the bad.
The dish of healthy fruit looks decidedly satisfactory, so you pull it towards you again.
The prophet Jeremiah saw two baskets of figs, a common fruit in His time of service to the LORD, in Israel.
This vision in Jeremiah 24 encouraged the Israelites who were in captivity in Babylon.
The Israelites experienced hardship and affliction, but it humbled a portion of them and brought them back to God in repentance.
God’s promise to build them up, plant them, and watch over them for good, along with a glorious deliverance, was a word in due season to desperate souls.
God promised to be with those who belonged to Him, and to protect them.
Those who knew Him and returned to Him with their whole heart would know His blessings.
There is a message loud and clear for us in Jeremiah chapter 24, verses six and seven.
I read this message with great comfort in my soul.
Our LORD promises to build those who know Him up and not tear them down.
He promises to plant us and not uproot us, as we turn our hearts fully to Him in repentance and faith.
What a precious promise to hold on to, dear reader.
In the vibrant season, we are presently part of we can see everything around us spring to life!
Foliage is flourishing, farmers are planting crops, and as far as the eye can see, greenery is growing. How can we ignore the goodness of our God?
Let this be a visual reminder of what it means to be planted for God’s glory.
God takes His children and plants them. He does not tear us down.
Even in times of trial, we are being sanctified to bear more beauty for HIs purposes.
Let these promises of being planted and built up spur you on to know God more, to serve God more, and to return to Him daily with your whole heart.
Together, may it be our desire to ask God in faith to give us a heart to know Him?
And then with hope in our heart and wind in our sails, let us remember those who lived and learned before us, those who returned and where delivered, those who persevered under hardships for their own sanctification.
Let us hold on to the promises that God gave the Israelites of old, and His flock of followers that long to know Him more today.
God’s promises are life and light.
They give vibrant hope to those who know them, and long to know Him more.
We need to examine the fruit in our lives and ask the LORD to build us, to plant us, for His renown.
As those planted by the LORD we long to bear much good fruit.
May our prayer be that our fruit is excellent and pleasing to our LORD.